Serenellian Spirituality

Spiritual Thoughts and Meditations by Juan Taylor

The Way to Unity

"Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature.
For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to
impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as
slaves to righteousness for sanctification."
Romans 6:18-19

"This is due first and foremost to the fact that man is a being made
up of body and soul. Man is truly himself when his body and soul are
intimately united; the challenge of eros can be said to be truly
overcome when this unification is achieved. Should he aspire to be
pure spirit and to reject the flesh as pertaining to his animal nature
alone, then spirit and body would both lose their dignity. On the
other hand, should he deny the spirit and consider matter, the body,
as the only reality, he would likewise lose his greatness. The epicure
Gassendi used to offer Descartes the humorous greeting: "O Soul!" And
Descartes would reply: "O Flesh!". Yet it is neither the spirit alone
nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified
creature composed of body and soul, who loves. Only when both
dimensions are truly united, does man attain his full stature."
—POPE BENEDICT XVI, DEUS CARITAS EST

While the way to holiness and purity is through Grace alone, on a
practical level it is circular. One has to pray for Grace, yet this is
not Grace itself. One also has to put into practice virtue to be able
to grow deeper in it. In one hand is Grace and the other Works. All
come from Grace but one needs the effort of Works as a proof and
preparation for Grace.

Some Christians rely on grace more than action, some rely on love more
than truth. This "difference" is not an obstacle to unity but, when
they come together, the very essence of what Unity is. Conservative
and liberal, the heart or the head, this is what needs to come
together in the Christian person and in the wider Christian
communities and even in the world. And then something other is
created. Something beautiful exists.

Therefore in the search for virtue, effort and struggle should never
be compromised as long as someone is asking for the pure gift of
Grace. What appears as futile is not because one is mystically driven
by Grace. In praying and asking for Grace, one has the power for the
effort and the struggle.

"Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions,
occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you,
as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit
the kingdom of God.

In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against
such there is no law."
Galatians 5:19-23

Celestial Marriages

May our sons be like plants
well nurtured from their youth,
Our daughters, like graceful columns,
shapely as those of the temple.
May our barns be full
with every kind of store.
May our sheep increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields;
may our oxen be well fattened.
May there be no breach in the walls,
no exile, no outcry in our streets.
Happy the people so blessed;
happy the people whose God is the Lord.
Psalm 144:12-15

In days before the flood, they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the
day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until
the flood came and carried them all away. So will it
be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Matt. 24:38-39

All society revolves around the family, not the
individual. Marriage is the Sacrament of civilization.
Art and Architecture if good, revolve more around
marriage and the family even in subtlety than the
individual. The family is not just the foundation of
society, but its very source and summit.

Happy Christian marriages are the salt of society. The
churches most successful efforts are in the family more
so than in the context of the individual. what bodes
for societies in general has its roots in the family.
If there is much prayer in a family, then it will
prosper. But if there is not much prayer, then the
family will become broken. Seen or unseen. No fastings
in a family leads to a family of conflicting desires.
A family that does not sacrifice itself in religion
becomes a Godless family. A family that worships the
idol of television (which attacks families) is a
family that worships the image of their soon-to-be
broken family.

Conquer the Family, and one Conquers the World.

Marriage and the family are so strong that individuals
go to heaven or hell more on the basis of it than any
other reason. The church's evangelization has mostly
an effect on families. The church builds up societal
culture most predominantly through families. Even a
Virgin bows before Marriage and the family because she
knows she is the guardian of it. The family is where
the civilization of love will burst forth.

Modesty: The Gateway of Beauty

'The expression of virtue as a good.'

Similarly, women should adorn themselves with proper conduct, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hairstyles and gold ornaments, or pearls, or expensive clothes, but rather, as befits women who profess reverence for God, with good deeds.
1 Timothy 2:9-10

'It will come to pass in the last days,' God says, 'that I will pour out a portion of my spirit upon all flesh...'
Acts 2:17

All modesty makes for an expression of human beauty. While modesty comes from something inner and not outer, it reveals itself in the outer world of social expression. It is the show to end all shows. For modesty is a performance of virtue.

Chaste modesty especially, gives a physical beauty. And only chaste modesty can give the beauty of the sexes. In the realm of unchaste immodesty, the woman (or the feminine) flaunts, and the man consumes it. The woman flaunts impurity and the man is corrupted by accepting it. The woman gives the apple and Adam eats it. And then both of them tend toward impurity of body, or a sexual ugliness. If on the other hand, there is the expression of purity and chastity as a good, then both man who accepts, who acquiesces and woman who expresses will grow in bodily Beauty. And it will be as if their whole body and soul were ablaze with Fire of the Lord.

Virtue as a good. There is a modesty of humility and modesty of love. Virtue becomes social and the very expression of beauty.

The Path of Hope

"Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but
if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore
its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have
peace with one another."
Mark 9:49-50

1.1
The is the fast of the First Born, the first of his victories.
Let us rejoice in his coming; for in fasting he has overcome.
Though he could have overcome by any means,
He revealed for us the strength hidden in fasting, Overcomer of All.
For by means of it a man can overcome that one who with fruit overcame Adam;

He became greedy and gobbled it.

Blessed is the First-Born who encompassed our
weakness with the wall of his great fasting.

Res: Blessed is the King who adorned the Holy Church with Fasting, Prayer and Vigil.

Saint Ephrem's Hymns on Fasting
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.demo.toc.html

Fasting is the road to Hope.

Yet it can become a road to judgment and sin, if a lie. So there must be the
sacrifice of a contrite heart as well as the Prayer that uplifts.

Within Fasting itself are the elements of Faith and Love.

These are subordinates within the context of Fasting itself. So that Authentic Fasting is a
sacrifice, and prayer becomes the support of the Fasting. While Prayer outside of the context of Fasting defeats the Devil. Fasting directly conquers the Flesh. So the way to purity as well as temperance is through fasting.

One turns away from sin through fasting. In fact, the only way to turn away from sin is through Fasting. Even for a saint who fasts for others, is also fasting for himself. And the saint knows that he must fast continually for if he is ever satisfied or fulfilled in the things of this life,

he will have had no claims to the next.

Those who consider fasting (in its varied forms) as an Optional part of the Spiritual Life do not have knowledge of Hope. For while sacrifice and almsgiving defeat the World, Fasting is the only thing capable of defeating the Flesh. In the battle of the moral virtues and vice, the most formidable Foe is Oneself.
While the World beckons, the Flesh will burn.

Fasting makes Hope blossom.

"For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the
spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
Romans 8:13

Those whose steps are guided by the Lord,
whose way God approves,
May stumble, but they will never fall,
for the Lord holds their hand.
Psalm 37: 23-24

As Christianity falls more and more, the Way of the Lord will grow
more brightly in the souls of the Chosen. The Way of the Cross will
become a delight for them. They will rise while others will fall. As
the Apostasy unfolds, the light of faith must become as a supernova in
the hearts of the saints. As the Flesh rises, the light of Hope must
overtake all desires and the light of Love must crush all fear.

Prayer, Fasting and Sacrificial Charity,
the WHOLE of Prayer, Fasting and Sacrificial Charity
and NOTHING BUT Prayer, Fasting and Sacrificial Charity.

The way of walking with the Lord should not be a great difficulty. It
should be fairly simple. And in the paradise to come, it will be so.

The Way

Faith comes by way of Sacrifice.

The sacrifice must be a Prayer (to the Lord) and fasting gives the strength for it.

Hope comes by way of Fasting.

The fasting must be a Sacrifice (a turning away from sin) and prayer gives the strength for it.

Love comes by way of Prayer.

The Prayer must be a Fasting (for it to be fruitful) and sacrifice gives the strength for it.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear
fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it
bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of
the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I
remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on
its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can
you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are
the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will
bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.
John 15: 1-5

The Day of Love

If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body
over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13: 3

Love is patient, love is kind.

It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated,

it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests,

it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,

it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the
truth. It bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The Virtues are Trinitarian.

While one climbs from Faith to Hope, love is always there as an anticipation of the final consummation of love. Faith, Hope and Love. All of the virtues come down to these three.
With Faith as anticipatory and Hope dividing itself up and Love embracing everything. And Hope is many-faceted because Love is many-faceted. Yet since Love exists as a unifying factor, it cannot divide up into other virtues. If Hope is a request for Love, this request becomes universal in scope. Love will always be the answer that it receives.

To practice the virtues from the Heart so that they have effect, one simply practices them In Love. And it is through the virtues of Hope that are important to us that we discover Love. In fact, we find that God Is Love.

The Algorithm of Holiness

The Primary virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love are dynamic. If one leads, the others must concur for the leading virtue to be successful. Therefore, standing upon the foundation of Faith, we pray and exercise the virtues of Hope, in Love. This is the algorithm of holiness. Then we are participating in what the Lord finds most important, and that is for his Creation to
dance with him. To Party as it were. And when all of the members of the Trinity can truly dance within us and within creation, then His will is truly being done on earth as it is in Heaven.

And the final victory party, the day of the final consummation of Love, will arrive.

The Sword of Wisdom

"For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do
not submit again to the yoke of slavery. It is I,
Paul, who am telling you that if you have yourselves
circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once
again I declare to every man who has himself
circumcised that he is bound to observe the entire
law. You are separated from Christ, you who are trying
to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of
righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything,
but only faith working through love."
Galatians 5:1-6

For Faith to be real we must have truly chosen the Lord. For Hope to be real we must have a personal relationship with the Lord. And in the virtues that we choose, our Faith is put to a great test. In fact, it is put to a Very great test. We come before the Lord as we are and he works the work in us. It is not we who are leading in practicing virtue but the Lord who
leads and purifies us because if we knew the way, then we wouldn't need Wisdom in the first place.

One can choose to obey the commands of the Lord through an effort of the will or one can choose to obey the commands of the Lord through Wisdom, which is the wise thing to do. Wisdom is Faith, and Wisdom is Hope, and Wisdom is Love. In differing ways, for Faith
is as Baptism and Hope divides up in the body in different ways and Love binds All within its bond of perfection.

Wisdom is a personal relationship with Humanity on the part of the Lord. Which becomes clear in Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, who frees us from even the law of the Wisdom in the old testament. One can truly say, "Have a personal relationship with the Lord through virtue,
- and do what thou wilt!" And in fact, one must be able to say it, and Wholeheartedly say it, for the sword of Wisdom shall cut to pieces the law within us.

In order to be truly free, we must embrace not our own wills, but the sword which is Wisdom.

Hearts of Virtue

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness,
and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving
one another, if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.

And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of
perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your
hearts, the peace into which you were also called in
one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and
admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
Colossians 3: 12-16

"Our hearts are restless Oh Lord, until they rest in you."
St. Augustine

The heart is where a personal relationship with the Lord takes place. While our minds are clouded with false conceptions of his ways, our hearts are truly the gateway to him. Through our hearts, our minds are enlightened to see him clearly.

Virtues strengthen the heart. Through the virtues that are important to us, we reach down into the level of the heart and a personal relationship with the Lord more than our imagination could do. In the practice of virtue that is heartfelt, our hearts grow and our virtue is truly strengthened.

For a living Faith is passion, and a living Hope is passion as well. The muscle of virtue is always the Heart through which we seek the Lord.

Wisdom waits

For to men she is an unfailing treasure;
those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God,

to whom the gifts they have from discipline commend them.
Wisdom 7: 14

But what is virtue, but Wisdom!

Many stop at Faith and are afraid to go on to Hope.
Yet our destiny lies not just in Faith but also in Hope where the God of our Faith moves into our very life and experience. Hope becomes the support of our Faith.

If we hang on to just what we perceive as Faith without moving forward, as many do, then at least some of our experiences will be shipwrecks in the Faith. If we receive the Eucharist (Giver of Wisdom) only in Faith, forgetting the virtues that we need, then we are not expressing our Hope and our Faith becomes somewhat in vain.

And if the drunkard fails to seek Sobriety, and the boastful for Humility, then is this Wisdom?

The Work of Wisdom

My son, from your youth embrace discipline;
thus will you find wisdom with graying hair.

As though plowing and sowing, draw close to her;
then await her bountiful crops.
For in cultivating her you will labor but little,

and soon you will eat of her fruits.
How irksome she is to the unruly!
The fool cannot abide her.
She will be like a burdensome stone to test him,

and he will not delay in casting her aside.
For discipline is like her name,

she is not accessible to many.
Sirach 6:18-23

If one practices Temperance, one will find Temperance.
If one practices Humility, then one will eventually become Humble.

If one has temptations to Pride, then choosing a relationship with the Lord through Humility is a safeguard against those temptations. If one has a relationship with the Lord through a virtue then, morally speaking, one cannot commit a serious sin that goes against that virtue. As long as one is in a relationship with the Lord through that virtue, sin becomes a locked gate.

Yet to break the relationship to the Lord through the virtue is not an impossibility. For it takes two to cultivate the virtues. And this is the truth of a personal relationship. Through prayers, sacrifices and fasting we do our part to cultivate a particular virtue. And yet this work is easy if we have truly chosen the Lord. And what separates Wisdom from all else is that the work to cultivate the virtue is part of the virtue itself. But only if we have truly chosen the Lord.

The Crown of the Wise

The crown of the wise is resourcefulness;
the diadem of fools is folly.
Proverbs 14:24

The virtues are an experience of God. This is so not only in the virtue of Faith, - the first cause in the life of a believer - but also in other virtues that characterize the truth of experience of one's life. Through the practice of the virtues which are important to us, we bring an offering to God of not just our Faith but our very life.

For one begins by Faith and is consumed in Love.
Between the two is anticipation: our offering, our gifts which we make to be consumed in Love.

Wisdom Calls

All Wisdom comes from the Lord
and with him it remains forever.
Sirach 1 1:1

Get wisdom, get understanding!
Do not forget or turn aside
from the words I utter.
Forsake her not, and she will preserve you;
love her, and she will safeguard you;
The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom;
at the cost of all you have, get
understanding.
Proverbs 4:5-7

The Lord does not just give us virtues. But virtues are a communion with Him. The Lord already works through the virtues. So that's why we should work with him in the same way, for it is easy to suffer when you are in a personal relationship with the Lord through the virtues.

And the virtues work only if it is in the context of a personal relationship with the Lord. The virtues are a personal relationship with the Lord. The Lord does not only want our Creed, but out life and experience. A personal relationship with the Lord through the virtues means that we are flying at speeds we could not possibly imagine, for if virtue is a personal relationship with the Lord then we will most assuredly be victorious in this Virtue.

Even in times of crosses, when one feels no respite, no sweetness, the Lord still leads us by way of the virtue we have embraced to obey his commands. He leads us personally in a way in which the Lord is truly with us in the trials and tribulations of life.

Virtues: A Communion with the Lord

I, Wisdom, dwell with experience,
and judicious knowledge I attain.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride, arrogance, the evil way,
and the perverse mouth I hate.
Mine are counsel and advice;
Mine is strength: I am understanding.
By me Kings reign,
and lawgivers establish justice;
By me princes govern,
and nobles; all the rulers of the earth.
Proverbs 8:12-16

Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.
Romans 12:21

There is no end to rising in virtue, for virtues are a communion with the Lord.

Virtue is not strengthened simply by rejecting sin.
But by rejecting sin by embracing Virtue. And this calls for a focus on the virtue to the extent that one focuses less and less on the rejection of sin and more so on that communion with the Lord which the virtue entails. Thereby, one truly rises in virtue.

For the Lord works on us through the Virtues. And He, rather than to be strong in the face of temptation, is our Goal. To rise in virtue one eventually feels a sweetness of communion with the Lord through that virtue.